The Dickinson press., 1887-04-09

Farmct!-Ihc Sluggish "Erauch" and
the Blessed 'Irovilcncc Sprimg'-Dus-
outs of the Observation-Disclosures.
1t will he remembered that the site of tho
prison Was a couplcof side hills sloling gently
do".l toward each other into IL bog or swamp,
through which ran u Sluggish stream OF water
eight or ten feet wide and about six inches
deep. Whcn this s,u:. was choscn for Il
prison it WIS quite heavily t;mlpcrcl with
pine trees. -Asl,arc of ai.out twenty acres in
extent was cleared off and securely fenced in
will the timber thus obtained, the timber.
being cut twenty-five feet long and buried
five fSrt iii the ground. The soil was light
and andy. Only two trees were left in the
,n.i:' imclosurc. No place could have been
more inhoSliiablc and cherries. The swamp,
in which Il man would sink to the waist, oc-
cup:cd Il consilcrall" portion Of the field: the
little stream was brackish and unpalatablc;
the absence of shade trees, which might have
'c"n left, made the pen almost like callron
under ti. Earning southern sun.
To-day the spot presents a somewhat pleas
antcr aspect. The side hills are now farmrl,
tie scamp is not and will not he for years,
until redeemed by Il more careful system of
agriculture. After the prison WAS abandoned
in A. I'll. 1868, til" place grew UP with second
growth timber. lui this has been almost en-
tii, u cleared away. and in its place in the
proper season ;.yc found the staple products
Of Georgia huslurlry. The great, towering
stucsaGr has almost entirely disappeared: it
i,only lirrc aud there that n single POST OF Il
i.t:'r group OF posts is 10 he sccn. These have
not rottcl away, but have been wisely split
MP into rails t. fence OH the farm land.
Their purpose is not now to keep in prisoners
hut to keep out intrulc;S.
Sill, Trough tho heavy, spiked timbcrs
have been removed. til" three lines of stock
ado can lo distinctly traced; they are likely
; 10 lc t,isccraiblc for years to come. The
strong cailiiworks that the Confederate sol
di"rs throw UP are still there, hard and firm;
and the riff, pits used by them are still trace
able, though tw,nty-thrcc years have elapsed
since they We're dug.
The sluggish little stream, the ''Bmnrh," as
the prisoners called it, still takes its way
across What was the old Enclosure, about q
third of til" way from the southern boundary
of The s.orl:adr. 1t is to-day much as it was
in thu GD>. Its banks are lined now as then
with lai.i, oozy ground, still miaslnal and
ii+aSrre;hl", hut, Of course, shorn of tbs
i"iil, excrrnrntal stencil of wal times. Til.
was th" general sink of tho prison, and its
stencil could then be detected n mile anil /,
half away.
Those familiar with the history of Amber
sonvillc will remember the little spring
"irnvilcMrc spring it was called, because il
was n godscnd to the prisoners, that broke
forth ON the 18th or 18th of August, 1864, he
tween The dead line" and the stockadc, no
far from The north gate. Previous to thi
tim" the prisoners got water from TIL,
"lirancl," or general sink. When this Sprin,
broke out, however, Capt. Wirz con
sid"rately allowed them to sink Il barrel IN,
conduct the water within the dead line" an,
her ,li" prisoners would stand in line by tn
hundreds, awaiting their turn to get n driml
OF fresh water. 1t was the one great bless
Ing of the pen. and it has never ceased t
flow. Its waters bubble forth to-da,
as fresh and sparkling as in thos
times of suffering. The appearance
of the spring. Of course, is changed
Twenty Years of c~casclcss flowing has worl,c
it back Il little higher up the hill, since tn
old barrel which tho prironers sunk 500
disappeared after the prison was abandoned
Tits now some twenty feet from the pcrccpt
lille outline of the stockadc. For Il time
WAS protected by IL large pine stump, but it
10Y surrounded by Il neat wood curbin
about two and Il half feet high, with Il sen,
circular opening on the lower side, tlroug
which the water constantly flows.
Before the spring broke forth the prisonc,
"ndeavorcl TO find fresh water by sinkin
wells III the liillsilcs, hut to 10 avail. Man
such excavations were made, some of thel
forty or fifty feet deep. Several of these az
still to be seen, almost as perfect as when til
prisoners dug them. They arc all dry, sine
whatever watcrtuns into them from the SUI
face is rapidly absorbed by the sandy sol
They are Il constant source of danger, vet III
careless %husbandry of the south does not f
them VI.
OF course the dead line" IL low fence cigl
teen feet from the stockade, made by nailin
u four-inch strip of board on low posts abo,
twenty feet apart, has wholly disappeared
Not the slightest trace is left of it, since
was lightly constructed.
Though more than twenty years ha,
passed, the burrows or dugouts of the prisol
crs arc still disc"riliblc. 1t is strange VIII;
grotesqu" humor will crop out in the midst
suffering. 1t seems rs though there is Il In
by which humor asserts itself as a prote
against despair from the very depths of
suffering heart. These dugouts-merc ke1
nnls-werc the boys "brownstone fronts
The Lillsides, especially Oh the north slop
arc in places deeply corrugated. Gre;
!, wnsllonts are to be seen where the prisoner
burrows havc caved i'll. 1t will take a Ion
/, time for the influences of weather and shift
less farming to oblitcrate them. Here III
there, also, is TO be seen n narrow, long d
+ preston i'll the ground leading toward I'll
stockatc. These are caused by the falling
/. of tho earth over the prisoners tunnels, whic
were cNcavatcd with n view to escap
> And escape some $50 of the men di
Periodically the Confcderates would dri,
a heavily loaded wagon over the space b
tween the stockadc mt the dead line with
g view TO breaking in the soil md discovcrir
: tho tunnels. Besides this, they probcd IL
ground with sharp spikes for the same pu
Il pose. These little lines of indenturc there al
eloquent with the hopes and efforts that tt
often were mnavailing.
II Relics of prison life arc constantly bcir
exlumcd-bits of pots and kettles, knive
spoons, cantecn covers, and the like. The
o are mostly found on the sandy slopes of Il
hills, since the soil of the marsh las scarce
been disturbed. Upon the whole, the plat
- has the air of q peaceful rural district. On
. would readily sec that it had been the sccl
= of war operations. But there is nothing
= suggest the horrors of thirteen months
prison experience except to ono who CT
u rightly read and interpret the little signs v
% have pointed out above.-Chicago Times.
u The Fishing Maiden.
\, She was full of cunning c%rinklcs, little tricks al
=. willy wrinkles, to catch crabs and pc